The Reading Room ebook series set for launch

Pam Norfolk

It’s all systems go at publishers Quercus as they gear up for the unveiling of The Reading Group, an exciting new ebook series by Della Parker, a novelist, short story writer and the agony aunt for Writers’ Forum magazine.

Launching on December 1, each individual short story in this innovative series follows a different member of the fictional seaside village of Little Sanderton Reading Group. The six women in the group come together every month to share their love of reading, their problems and a glass of wine! It’s a place where no topic is off-limits, whether that is books, family, love or loss.

The series kicks off with a free short story entitled The Reading Group: December and each novella after this will be priced at 99p and subtitled according to the month it is set in.

The free festive offering is a delicious first taste of this fabulous, feel-good new series. Grace knows that the holiday season is going to be different this year. No turkey, no tinsel, no gorgeously wrapped gifts under the tree. How on earth is she going to break it to her little boys that Christmas is effectively cancelled? And can she bear to tell anyone her embarrassing secret? Enter the Reading Group… Grace’s life might have turned upside down but there’s no problem they can’t solve.

In The Reading Group: January, we will meet Anne-Marie who has always considered herself a bit of a matchmaker even though she has only got one real success under her belt. But while Anne-Marie thinks she knows what’s best for everyone else, her own life couldn’t be less of a fairy tale romance. Between looking after her cranky father and running her own business, she doesn’t have time for a relationship. Her friends in the Reading Group, who are tackling Jane Austen’s Emma this month, know better though. After all, love can be found in the most unexpected of places…

And in The Reading Group: February, we will find Kate trying to be a good wife to her husband Anton. Ever since he got demoted at work, Anton simply hasn’t been the same. Kate wants to help but as the months pass and Anton pulls away from her both emotionally and physically, Kate can’t help but feel a bit abandoned. Then Kate means Bob, the handsome, blue-eyed carpenter that Anton has hired to refurbish their kitchen. Kate instantly feels a powerful physical connection between them… but dare she risk her marriage for a man she barely knows?

Meanwhile, the Reading Group is enjoying Lady Chatterley’s Lover… and trying not to giggle too much at the naughty parts!

Parker draws on both her writing talents and her professional experience to pen this delightful, heartwarming series which promises plenty of love, laughter and tears.